Bill Wangerhttp://www.adweek.com/taxonomy/term/13558/all
enFox Bows Double Box Ad Format in MLB Broadcasthttp://www.adweek.com/news/advertising-branding/fox-bows-double-box-ad-format-mlb-broadcast-150565
Anthony Crupi<img src="http://www.adweek.com/files/imagecache/node-detail/news_article/red-sox-hed-2013.jpg"> <p>
After kicking the tires on the &ldquo;double box&rdquo; ad format in Nascar races and during the Jan. 4 AT&amp;T Cotton Bowl Classic, Fox Sports is taking its innovative break to the next level, prepping it for its Major League Baseball debut.</p>
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On Saturday evening, Fox will air two double box pods during its live broadcast of the Red Sox-Tigers game. The game will be seen in 40 percent of the country, including major East Coast markets like New York, Philadelphia, Washington, Miami and Baltimore. (Naturally, the game will also air in the No. 6 DMA, Boston, and No. 10 Detroit.)</p>
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The first execution will appear between the third and fourth innings (break seven), while the second will air as the bottom of the fifth gives way to the top of the sixth (break 11). Both pods will consist of four 30-second spots.</p>
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When Fox throws to commercial in break seven, 92 percent of the screen will be occupied by the ads and a special reverse L-shaped &ldquo;skin&rdquo; that brackets the creative with the client&rsquo;s logo and brand messaging. (For example, a national pizza chain conceivably could use the skin as an opportunity to remind viewers that the fourth inning is an ideal time to order a large pie.)</p>
<p>
A small box in the upper right-hand corner of the screen will feature the sort of between-innings activities viewers do not see during traditional commercial breaks. The Comerica Park snippets may include everything from shots of untouchable Tigers pitcher Max Scherzer warming up on the mound to first baseman Prince Fielder tossing the ball around the infield.</p>
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Among the eight sponsors who have committed to Saturday&rsquo;s double box executions are American Express, AT&amp;T, General Motors and T-Mobile.</p>
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&nbsp;</p>
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When AT&amp;T&rsquo;s double box ad aired during the Cotton Bowl, the skin bore the legend &ldquo;AT&amp;T: The nation&rsquo;s largest 4G network.&rdquo; The company&rsquo;s signature white-and-blue globe logo and the tag&nbsp;&ldquo;Rethink Possible&rdquo; appeared just below live crowd shots from Cowboys Stadium in Arlinton, Texas.</p>
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The inaugural MLB execution comes as Fox Sports preps for the launch of its new 24/7 cable network. When <a href="http://www.adweek.com/news/television/fox-sports-1-launch-aug-17-147720" target="_blank">Fox Sports 1 goes live on August 17</a>, the network expects that anywhere between 25 percent and 50 percent of the ads will be presented in the double box format.</p>
<p>
According to Bill Wanger, evp, programming &amp; research, Fox Sports Media Group, the double box format helps keep viewers tuned in during ad breaks. &ldquo;The ads are 18 percent more engaging in this format than they are in a traditional full-screen environment,&rdquo; Wanger said. &ldquo;The data also shows that the complete pod is more engaging all the way through. In other words, the C position is just as valuable as the A position.&rdquo;</p>
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Fox began testing the format back in 2011, airing the custom pods in the final three races of its Nascar Sprint Cup Series package. Since then it has used it in a number of other Nascar broadcasts&mdash;auto racing is particularly well suited to the double box construct, as fans can watch live action that they would otherwise miss&mdash;and in a few UFC matches.</p>
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&ldquo;We really believe that this is a win-win,&rdquo; Wanger said. &ldquo;For the advertiser, this is a much more effective buy in terms of engagement and for viewers, it&rsquo;s a great way to ensure that they don&rsquo;t miss a second of the action.&rdquo;</p>
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In order to streamline automation, Fox is making significant investments in its Charlotte-based traffic department. &ldquo;At present, it&rsquo;s a labor intensive operation, which is why we&rsquo;re picking our spots,&rdquo; Wanger said. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re doing this methodically&hellip;but in time we hope to see a 100 percent adoption of the format on Fox Sports 1.&rdquo;</p>
<p>
At launch, FS1 is expected to reach 90 million households. Along with a roster of live sports programming (MLB, Nascar, UFC, college football and international soccer), FS1 also will produce a complement of original shoulder programming. Among these are <a href="http://www.adweek.com/news/advertising-branding/genius-who-produces-pure-television-150258" target="_blank">Crowd Goes Wild</a>, a daily drive-time (5 p.m.-6 p.m.) roundtable hosted by Regis Philbin and a panel of sports figures, reporters and other enthusiasts, and Fox Sports Live, a nightly news program designed to compete with ESPN&rsquo;s monolithic SportsCenter.</p>
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The undefeated (10-0, 3.08)&nbsp;Scherzer takes the hill Saturday against Boston&rsquo;s struggling young righty Allen Webster (0-1, 11.74). The first pitch is scheduled to hit Brayan Pena&rsquo;s mitt at 7:15 p.m. EDT.</p>
Advertising & BrandingTelevisionAutomotiveAmerican ExpressAt&tBill WangerCotton BowlCrowd Goes WildDouble Box Ad FormatFoxFox SportsFox Sports 1Fox Sports LiveFox Sports Media GroupFS1General MotorsMajor League BaseballMlbNascarNetworksSportsT-mobileUFCFri, 21 Jun 2013 20:17:12 +0000150565 at http://www.adweek.comFox Sports 1 to Launch Aug. 17http://www.adweek.com/news/television/fox-sports-1-launch-aug-17-147720
Anthony Crupi<img src="http://www.adweek.com/files/imagecache/node-detail/news_article/regis-philbin-hed-2013.jpg"> <p>
After <a href="http://www.adweek.com/news/television/crazy-you-know-what-147170" target="_blank">months of speculation</a>&mdash;and 15 years of behind-the-scenes machinations&mdash;Fox Sports on Tuesday officially announced plans to launch a national cable sports network. And while the ultimate goal is to topple ESPN from its pedestal, executives were effusive in their praise of the Bristol juggernaut.</p>
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Speaking to a horde of sports-media reporters gathered in a ballroom in the New York Marriott Marquis, News Corp. svp David Hill said Fox Sports 1 will launch on Tuesday, Aug. 17, with an eye toward offering a viable alternative to ESPN.</p>
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Hill, who has been an <a href="http://www.adweek.com/news/television/peter-rice-named-head-fox-networks-group-142131" target="_blank">indelible part of the landscape</a> since he spearheaded the creation of Fox Sports 20 years ago, said that FS1 hopes to play in the same sandbox as ESPN, which he characterized as an &ldquo;absolute world class&rdquo; organization. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s going to take a while. We&rsquo;re not expecting to knock ESPN off in a week or two,&rdquo; Hill said, adding, &ldquo;It&rsquo;s going to take two to three years&rdquo; before FS1 can compete with ESPN on equal footing.</p>
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But make no mistake, FS1 is going to take some early shots at the hegemonic sports brand. Out of the gate, FS1 will televise an 11 p.m. ET news and highlights program that is pretty clearly meant to function as a challenger to SportsCenter.</p>
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In addition to leveraging Fox Sports&rsquo; multiple sports-rights packages, a portfolio that includes Major League Baseball, Nascar, <a href="http://www.adweek.com/news/television/let-it-bleed-ufc-big-business-fox-146803" target="_blank">UFC</a>, college football and international soccer, FS1 will also produce a roster of original shoulder programming. TV mainstay Regis Philbin has signed on to host the weekday drive-time chat show Rush Hour, while the Fox NFL Sunday gang will bring their expertise to an evening gridiron show, Fox Football Daily.&nbsp;</p>
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When asked how his presence would help draw the 18-49 demo, the 81-year-old Philbin feigned deafness.</p>
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Hill always has been cheerfully combative, but he refused to entertain a few leading questions about ESPN&rsquo;s perceived &ldquo;weaknesses.&rdquo; Instead, he said that FS1 is going to do its best to help fans overcome the &ldquo;inertia&rdquo; of the past 33 years, &ldquo;until there are two viable alternatives.&rdquo;</p>
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Fox Sports evp of programming and research Bill Wanger echoed Hill&rsquo;s sentiments, calling ESPN &ldquo;a machine&rdquo; before making an apt analogy to a pair of earlier News Corp. launches. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re trying to take on the establishment, no different than what Fox Broadcast did in the 1980s and Fox News did in the &rsquo;90s. We&rsquo;re going to have to scratch and claw our way to the top.&rdquo;</p>
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FS1 will assume the space on your cable dial presently occupied by the auto sports channel Speed. If nothing else, ESPN won&rsquo;t have to contend with sharing elbow room with its presumed usurper; in Time Warner Cable&rsquo;s New York footprint, for example, Bristol&rsquo;s flagship net is on channel 28&mdash;101 rungs up the ladder from Speed/FS1.</p>
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For its part, ESPN isn&rsquo;t exactly quaking in its gargantuan boots. For one thing, it enjoys an enviable head start over Fox. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s difficult to be disrupted if you don&rsquo;t allow somebody to flank you, right?&rdquo; <a href="http://www.adweek.com/news/television/skipper-146804" target="_blank">ESPN president John Skipper</a> told Adweek. &ldquo;As long as we don&rsquo;t let anyone else get a market share lead in mobile, or in apps or in something new that comes along, we&rsquo;ll be hard to displace.&rdquo;</p>
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At launch, FS1 is expected to reach 90 million households. Its live events will utilize Fox Sports&rsquo; &ldquo;double box&rdquo; commercial format, which demonstrably keeps viewers more engaged during ad breaks.</p>
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If much of the FS1 presentation covered familiar ground, some ancillary questions went unanswered. Rather than muddy the announcement with talk of a second cable network (FS2 is expected to replace Fuel at some undetermined date), Hill, Wanger and FSMG co-presidents and COOs Randy Freer and Eric Shanks focused on the historic implications of the primary launch sequence.</p>
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&ldquo;Our &lsquo;secret,&rsquo; admittedly a very poorly kept one, is now revealed,&rdquo; Shanks said. &ldquo;Fans are now ready for an alternative to the establishment, and our goal for FS1 is to provide [that].&rdquo;</p>
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FSMG execs were not prepared to offer further guidance on negotiations for a package with the seven Catholic schools that are looking to break from the rapidly disintegrating Big East Conference. The so-called Catholic 7 includes perennial basketball powerhouses Georgetown, Villanova and Marquette.</p>
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&ldquo;We applaud the schools for taking hold of their own destiny,&rdquo; Freer said. &ldquo;Those are iconic basketball brands &hellip; and hopefully, [the split between them and the Big East&rsquo;s football schools] will get wrapped up in the near future.&rdquo;</p>
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As for the advertising sales picture, the ascendancy of live sports suggests that FS1 is simply another well-organized opportunity for marketers to secure reach and a rich demographic mix. &ldquo;The marketplace and the appetite for live sports remains insatiable,&rdquo; said Toby Byrne, president of sales, Fox Broadcasting. &ldquo;There is plenty of room for competition &hellip; and we will work with advertisers to ensure that their messages can break through. As of today, [FS1] is open for business.&rdquo;</p>
TelevisionBill WangerCableDavid HillEric ShanksEspnFoxFox SportsFox Sports 1Fox Sports Media GroupFS1John SkipperNews Corp.Randy FreerRatingsRegis PhilbinSportsToby ByrneTue, 05 Mar 2013 23:03:16 +0000147720 at http://www.adweek.com